The arts and various forms of entertainment allow people to step out of their real life roles and become people and characters that they could only imagine. Theater, drama, acting, and music scores carry people to far away places, other times, and different cultures. From both the actors and audiences’ points of view the transformation happens. How consumers enjoy arts and entertainment has changed throughout the years, from silent films to internet sensations.
As the turn of the century came films came to the forefront. Trick photography allowed silent film greats, like Charlie Chaplin, to keep their viewers on the edge of their seats. In one film, special effects artists made it look like a man was clinging to an edge several stories up. The man acted like he was going to fall all the way down to the pavement below. In reality he of course was only a few feet off the ground and could not come to any imminent danger. When the film was released, ladies in the audience actually fainted because the illusion created by the trick photographers seemed so real. The silent era also greatly developed the art of coinciding music with action and no words. The actors were stretched to use gestures and facial expressions to get their ideas across. In live theater the actors spoke, sang, and shouted to make their points. Films brought a new medium for perfecting.
The Little Rascals were also very popular during the silent age and beyond. Small children with comic lines stole the show. One down side to these young actors was that no laws were in place to protect these youngsters’ fortunes. Little Rascals always focused on young children. As they grew older the show replaced them with other children. So as young teens they were out of work. This was hard for some of them. Also without their wages being protected several of the actors were broke by the time they were in their early 20’s. As actors many had become stereotyped as children actors and often had a hard time getting employment as an adult in a world that had taken them to stardom.
The silent age gave way to voice recorded films. This phenomenon was dramatized in Singing In The Rain. This famous musical strove to show the challenges producers, actors, and directors had to overcome to make this new medium work. The voicing, recorded onto records, was played as the movie was projected. At first some just thought that this was a fad and would not catch on. But fairly soon after its introduction everyone in the industry clamored to adapt their films to this new style. And those who didn’t were left far behind and eventually forgotten.
With today’s age of digital photography, everyone seems to want to catch part of the action. There are an incredible number of ways to disseminate your artistic works and you get even more ideas on article directories like The Community Brain Blog dedicated to or pertaining to the arts and entertainment industry. Some innovative actors are beginning to publish their films and pilots on line instead of waiting for a pilot invitation by a studio. Good ideas are no longer limited through the whims and dictations of an almighty production studio. One statistic from 10 years ago said that one in every six people would be on television at some point. So I guess we’d all better be ready to be broadcast!
